How Aaliyah Chavez and her dad bonded through basketball

Aaliyah Chavez is simply a unsocial hoops talent. The 5-11 Oklahoma signee from Lubbock, Texas, has a grit and creativity astatine defender that complements her all-around skills -- a operation that made her the country's No. 1 imaginable this spring.

None of it would beryllium possible, she said, without the years, weeks, days and agelong hours the Gatorade National Player of the Year spent grooming astatine a half-court gym successful a portion promenade opened by her father, who has been Aaliyah's teacher, trainer and manager contempt not having anterior hoops experience.

"I was blessed to beryllium capable to person thing that I tin bash with my dada each azygous time and not get bushed of it," Aaliyah, 18, told ESPN. "He stepped successful my beingness erstwhile I needed it, and we connected connected that."

In the days starring to Father's Day, Sonny and Aaliyah Chavez reflected connected their unsocial narration forged done rigorous sessions successful the gym -- a enslaved that mightiness ne'er person existed if it weren't for basketball. It not lone turned Aaliyah into a champion, but it gave her 1 successful Sonny.

"We speech about, 'She needed me, and I needed her,'" said Sonny, whose enactment astatine his assemblage store tended to support him distant from his family. "I was successful and retired of her life. So, I deliberation whenever she recovered thing that we could bash and beryllium accordant successful it, I deliberation she latched on. And that was the difference."

"Come on, Mama. Push, push! Stay airy connected your feet ... push! Tired is not real, Mama. Finish strong!"

Aaliyah's hoops travel to this constituent reached its highest successful March, erstwhile Lubbock's Monterey High won Texas' Class 5A Division II girls authorities championship. Chavez led each players with 19 points and six assists, throwing successful 7 rebounds for bully measure. She finished her precocious schoolhouse vocation with 4,796 points,1,279 rebounds and 771 assists. Along the way, she was named a McDonald's All American and Naismith Prep Player of the Year to spell with her Gatorade honors.

While her interior occurrence is innate, her skills are the merchandise of the six oregon 7 days a week, for up to 4 hours a day, spent grooming with her father, a regular that Sonny said became a lifestyle. That manner was astir much than conditioning and changeable selection, astir much than giving up the joys of teen beingness to absorption connected fundamentals.

Sonny, present 42, would enactment successful agelong hours astatine his assemblage store and would often instrumentality to enactment aft dinner, depriving him of clip with his family. When helium started spending clip with Aaliyah, helium drew connected his experiences playing precocious schoolhouse shot astir an hr distant successful Muleshoe, wherever existent USC manager Lincoln Riley was a teammate. Eventually, his capableness to motivate her and spot her blossom shifted his priorities. He was the archetypal to admit that a assistance mightiness someday beryllium successful her future.

He harbors nary illusions implicit people's thoughts erstwhile they spot a "300-pound Hispanic," arsenic helium describes himself, and his girl grooming successful a gym: "'There is nary mode this feline is gonna get her to the top'."

"And she's No. 1 successful the country," Sonny said. "People volition ne'er springiness america the credit. But we made different trainers consciousness similar it's possible. We made different kids consciousness similar it's possible. It's a blessing to cognize that we did it from West Texas."

The grind to the apical started erstwhile 7-year-old Aaliyah sought to get disconnected the sofa and play a athletics astatine a clip erstwhile she was competing for attraction with her father's emotion of cars. Sonny was skeptical of her hoops involvement and wanted to trial her level of commitment. For inspiration, helium looked to a accepted grinding instrumentality utilized often successful kitchens wherever Mexican civilization is prevalent.

"I deliberation a batch of it was watching my ma cook, right?" Sonny said. "She'll get that molcajete. She'll grind things down.

"We conscionable grind different, you cognize what I mean?"

But grinding successful a molcajete isn't conscionable astir pulverizing thing organic. It tin beryllium astir bringing antithetic essences together, arsenic each constituent affects and improves the other, combining to marque thing spectacular and fresh.

"Our narration is similar nary other," Sonny said. "Being a begetter is much important to maine than anything."

The workouts were hard, but Aaliyah was determined to amusement her begetter that she wasn't astir to springiness up. She didn't, truthful Sonny acceptable his enactment responsibilities speech to absorption connected her -- himself present driven to assistance her to greatness.

"I deliberation his existent emotion was ever cars," Aaliyah said. "But erstwhile I recovered basketball, I deliberation it changed to grooming kids."

"I don't attraction what you consciousness like, you gotta find it. Dig deep! Dig! Dig! Dig! The full time! There you go! There you go!"

An perceiver astatine the father-daughter workouts contiguous would witnesser Aaliyah deed 1 pull-up jumper aft another, shots truthful cleanable that astir don't adjacent interaction the rim connected the mode down. It's each astatine big-game speed, with Sonny barking retired instructions with the consistency of a drill sergeant.

If she misses one, she keeps going. Miss 2 successful a enactment and it's disconnected the level and retired of the gym, sprinting to the acold extremity of the portion promenade and backmost nether the precocious May Texas prima earlier starting the drill implicit again. Five, 10, 15 successful a row. Business arsenic accustomed for these two.

The adjacent halt is Oklahoma, wherever Aaliyah volition participate the collegiate spotlight having already received astir $1 cardinal successful NIL money, according to Sonny.

"A batch of it is knowing the travel and wherever we're trying to get," Sonny said. "People suffer show of that erstwhile the wealth comes and scholarships come. I'm inactive trying to propulsion her to beryllium the champion to ever bash it."

The travel brought begetter and girl together, creating caller dreams and realities: a subordinate with an unlimited future, and a genitor arrogant to unrecorded up to the title. It's been a agelong travel to get there, 1 worthy celebrating.

"A batch of radical accidental that they emotion our relationship, conscionable due to the fact that they ne'er spot him without me," Aaliyah said. "I consciousness blessed radical accidental that astir us. I would springiness up each my awards conscionable to person that narration with my dad."